European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A saturday August 13, 1994 sports the stars and stripes Page 37 Vine end Fin Bytha Mccoy Dayton daily news. Cincinnati the handwriting was scribbled clearly on every major league clubhouse Wall in America nearly two years ago when the owners fired commissioner Faye  the dismissal which was More like a head chopping Jerry re commentary Insdorf the hawkish owner of the Chi Cago White sox compiled a list entitled bad things Fay has  included on the list was he s a labor  enough Vincent submitted his forced resignation on labor Day,1992 and choosing labor Day might have been Vincent s private Little  that Day management had a Clear Field toward a confrontation that led to today s baseball  s owners purposely Haven t named a new commissioner and an owner Milwaukee s Bud Selig serves those  no commissioner to step Inland Settle a labor dispute in the Best interests of baseball the owners Are free to take their dogged stance an attempt to Force a salary Cap on the players. Why is a salary Cap needed the own ers say because franchises Are losing  Are some losing Money because the owners can t control their spending and need the players to help police  Golden egg arrived in 1984 when television plopped $1.225 billion in the sweaty Palms of management $7.2 Mil lion a year for five years to each major league team. And management went on shopping sprees out bidding each other with Garish offers lavishing huge Multi year contracts on  the to Deal expired after 1989, the networks slashed their contribution by nearly 50 per cent and the Money machine was  to revenues vastly reduced management began its quest to save Money and a salary Cap is its  the Basic agreement expired they re All strike scoreboard Days lost pay lost per Day highest paid player Bobby Bonilla . Mets $5700,000 $31,148 games lost pay lost per Day minimum salary 14 a gasps  minimum salaried player $109,000 salaries listed do not include prorated shares of signing bonuses or  income or incentives bonuses earned or Money lost because of lost opportunities ,bonuses. Aped Dei Gasero after the 1992 season management took18 months to come up with a proposal for a new contract for the players. But before making the offer manage ment once again revealed its hard hand during an owners meeting in Cincinnati in Early june. They changed the rules. Now that the players Are on strike anew contract must be agreed upon by 21 of the 28 owners. If eight franchises Sayno there is no agreement. Before management changed the rules it took Only simple majority 15 of 28. Why among themselves management agreed of Revenue sharing the Large Market teams share receipts with Small Market teams. But the Large Market teams agreed to Revenue sharing Only i the players agreed to a salary Cap. So if a group of Small Market owners want to agree to a contract that does include a salary Cap eight Large Market teams can Block it. A week after changing the rules and18 months after the old agreement expired the owners made their proposal to the players with the salary Cap included. And they expected a Quick counter proposal from the players after they took 18 months. That s Why players negotiator Donald Fehr injected Friday s deadline for a new agreement. Fehr fears that if a new con tract in t in place by season s end management will declare an impasse and implement the salary Cap on its own. In the Days since making their first offer management has made one Faux Pas after another. First they refused to pay $7.8 million into the players pension fund Money the players earned from playing in this year s All Star game. Then Reinsdorf one of management Stough Guys said he would be Content to continue operating under the same Terasas the old contract a self serving statement because his Chicago White sox Are in first place in the american league Central and his new Comiskey Park is crawling with  management negotiator Richard Ravitch said 19 teams were projected Tolose Money in 1994 and included always Rich franchises like the los Angele dodgers Chicago cubs new York mets and Philadelphia Phillies. Selig shot Ravitch in the foot later by say ing Well maybe it in t 19maybe it s More like 12 or 13, but the numbers Aren t important. The game must  it sent another message to the players we can t Trust management or anything it says. Most players Are sincere when they say they did t want the strike that manage ment forced it. And they arc Correct. Many fans perceive the strike As another Money grubbing Effort by the filthy Rich players. It in t. They Only want to maintain what they be won through collective bargaining in the past. We know the fans Are upset Cincin Nati red second baseman Bret Boone said. Boone s father Bob Boone now a reds coach was a hard line member of the players Union negotiating Board Dur ing the 51-Day 1981 strike. We Don t want to upset the fans but this is our Job and this is our life and we have to protect it Bret Boone added. We sympathize with the fans. I want to play want to be out there. But the game is bigger than me bigger than the Cincinnati reds. And this is about the game about what re tired players fought Tor Over the last 20 years to get us where we Are. We want to Laythe groundwork for the next generation. All we want is fairness. The 1994 season has been a great one a lot of great things Are going on and it would be great to see what might  the game is bigger than Guys going after records and the Success of individual teams Boone said. It is also significant that there were few bargaining sessions Only one this week that lasted Only 2vi hours. There was no meeting thursday the last Day of base Ball. So far there is no give on either Side. Guys strike night fans say new York a if the 1994 base Ball season is indeed dead and buried the mourners 37,333 of them threw one bodacious Wake thursday at Yankee stadium. There were no tears shed for the millionaire owners no weepy goodbyes tothe millionaire players. Instead there was a Celebration of a gorgeous afternoon of baseball and a sadness Overa season that saw the Promise of the first Yankee Pennant since 1981 dissolve in Salabor War Between the Rich and the Rich  the past i favored the players. This time they re All jackasses said Michael Udolf of Manhattan who first visited Yankee stadium in 1967. The players did t have to strike to make their Point. The owners already have Money. I they did to they would t own  his feelings were echoed by Ada Colton 25, one of three men who raised a Banner during the seventh inning stretch urging fans to walk out. None did. In fact the stadium ticket windows did a brisk walkup business be fore the game despite the highest average ticket Price in baseball and $20yankees to shirts and $15 hats and $5 batting gloves. There s no question they re All bad Guys Colton said. But from the fans perspective we can t be interested in who s wrong. We must be interested in what will get the focus Back on  on thursday afternoon the Yankees and the Toronto Blue jays handled that perhaps for the last time in 1994 with a riveting 13-inning game won 8-7 by the visitors. The stadium s do spun some apropos music in the final innings John Lennon s give peace a Chance and the disco classic Don t leave me this  was the seventh inning stretch the last one of 94? was the grounds Crew through for the season and then there was Don Mattingly who has hinted a Long strike could Lead to his retirement. Afraid it was Donnie baseball s stadium finale the fans gave him a standing ovation m the 7th inning. And the 10th inning. And twice in the 13th inning a variety of viewpoints were expressed on homemade banners fluttering through the stadium some lyrical where have you gone Joe Dimaggio some esoteric baseball s Trust busted others pleading come Back soon. This is my first time coming to Yan Kee stadium it May be the last said Tom Gibbons standing outside the bleachers. It s too bad they could t set the. It s hard to feel pity for a Guy making $1  Peter Novick Zerneck of Brooklyn , makes his offer thursday at Yankee stadium